York Magazine | Volume 2

COLLEGE MAGAZINE 201 8 V OL. 2

DRONE’S EYE VIEW HELPING FARMERS REAP REWARDS

STORY ON PAGE 22

Senior Cathy Cooper, a Nuclear Medicine Technology major and Graham Innovation Scholar, is a native of Liberia and plans to return to her home country after she completes medical school. This trip was the first step for her to engage with key stakeholders in the healthcare sector to learn about the challenges and opportunities that she can assist with after she completes her education.

Photo of Cooper standing in front of her childhood home courtesy of Professor David Fyfe.

CO N T EN TS

COMMUNITY 4 Around Campus

Pushing the Sound Envelope

5 Meet Phillips Thomas Hornbuckle

Music Industry/Recording Technology (MIRT) major Nick Comito ’19 (far right) was chosen to go to Poland as a play-by-play shoutcaster.

9 Overheard 10 Engaging York 12 Spartan Sports

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PURSUITS 14 Research

Tracking a Threatened Species

15 Hands-On

Professor Jessica Nolan, Ph.D., and Reilly Kobus ’19 are studying the habits of red-bellied turtles. < PAGE 14

FEATURES 16 Drone’s Eye View

Drone’s Eye View

22 In Focus: YCP in Liberia

Professor Drew Wilkerson , Ph.D., guided teams of engineering students as they planned and built a drone to help local farmers oversee their crops.

24 50 Years Ago

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CONNECTIONS 29 Alumni News

Rachel Piazza ’05

31 Alumni Spotlight

Her passion for gender studies and politics stems from her first gender studies course at York College.

32 In Memoriam 33 A Glimpse of Our Past

< PAGE 32

On the cover: Professor Wilkerson assists engineering students with their drone capstone project in the field. Left to right, Michael Allen ’19, Professor Wilkerson, Benjamin Demchak ’19, Mitchell Slater ’19, Brandon van Gennip ’19, and Samantha Gotwalt ’19.

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VIE W FRO M M Y WIN DOW

YORK COLLEGE

President Pamela Gunter-Smith, Ph.D. Dean, Ctr. for Community Engagement Dominic DelliCarpini, Ph.D.

Preparations for the 2018-2019 academic year are underway, and we are set to welcome nearly 1,200 new students to the College. A few weeks ago, my husband and I talked with many of these new students and their families at the annual President’s New Student Receptions held at our campus home. With class schedules completed during summer orientation, there is both excitement and anxiousness as students prepare to become Spartans.

As I sit in my home office writing this column, I reflect on what my three predecessors (each of whom occupied this home) must have been thinking as they finalized plans for the upcoming year. None could be more pivotal in the history of the College than the thoughts of President Ray Miller who, 50 years ago, shepherded the transition of then York Junior College to the four-year degree institution of today. Yes, the College has added new programs and facilities, but nothing has been as transformative in its recent history as the transition to a baccalaureategranting college. We will mark the occasion with a yearlong celebration of the College’s 50th anniversary beginning with Fall Fest festivities in October.

This fall, we are at another significant point in the progression of the College as we fully implement a five-school structure. The schools, each headed by an academic dean, include: The School of the Arts, Communication, and Global Studies; the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education; The Graham School of Business; the School of Nursing and Health Professions; and The Kinsley School of Engineering, Sciences, and Technology. The intent is not to universitize the College, but to fuel academic innovation. And innovation is well underway as demonstrated by new programs such as Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Medical Humanities, and Philosophy and Business that reflect the cross-pollination of traditional disciplines.

Co-ops and internships have been the mainstay of bridging the classroom with the world of work. Now envision a team of 20 YCP students from Communications, Engineering, Business, and Hospitality Management working together in a project-based course involving the actual renovation and rejuvenation of the Yorktowne Hotel. These and similar programs and project-based courses recognize that our graduates must be practiced in many modalities if they are to be successful in their careers.

Two years ago, we embarked on the 2012-2017 Strategic Plan for a Greater York College.1 Progress on the plan can, at times, be clouded by a focus on student headcount. As we prepare to celebrate YCP’s 50th anniversary, let’s be reminded of this vision for the future: The Greater “York College will be the premier destination for students seeking an education that integrates career preparation with a strong foundation in the liberal arts,and will be a catalyst for positive change in higher education and in the broader community.” The plan emphasizes producing graduates who are ready to compete in dynamic and competitive global environments and who bring innovation to their work.

Happy 50th Birthday, York College!

Pamela Gunter-Smith, Ph.D. President, York College of Pennsylvania 2

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ycp.edu/strategicplan

Vice President of Enrollment Management Daniel Green, D.M.A. Head of School, York Country Day School Christine Heine, Ed.D. Vice President, College Advancement Jane C. Hogge, M.S. Associate Provost, Student Success Joshua Landau, Ph.D. Vice President, Campus Operations Kenneth Martin, Ph.D. Vice President, Student Affairs Joseph Merkle, M.A. Provost and Dean of Academic Affairs Laura Niesen de Abruña, Ph.D. Vice President, Business Affairs and CFO C. Matt Smith, C.P.A. Chief Information Officer Ilya Yakovlev, Ph.D. YORK COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Assistant Vice President of Communications Mary Dolheimer Director of Editorial Services Gail R. Huganir Director of Creative Services Lance A. Snyder ’05 Design Consultant Skelton Sprouls Photographer Mike Adams Writer Colleen A. Karl Editorial Assistant Colleen M. Adamy Spring 2018 Interns George Chaffin ’18 Rachel Harclerode ’18 Deena Santoro ’18 CHANGE OF ADDRESS Send address label along with new address to: Division of College Advancement York College of Pennsylvania York, PA 17403-3651 717-815-1410 or email yorkmag@ycp.edu York College Magazine is published three times a year (May, August, December) by the Division of College Advancement, York College of Pennsylvania, York, PA 17403-3651. Periodicals postage paid at York, PA, and additional mailing offices. Permit No. 174. © 2018 York College of Pennsylvania. Printed in U.S.A. We welcome your news and comments at yorkmag@ycp.edu. York College of Pennsylvania does not discriminate because of race, color, religious creed, disability, ancestry, national origin, sex, or age in employment or in recruitment and acceptance of students.

FO RU M

SHOULD SOCIAL MEDIA BE REGULATED? Nicolas Anspach, Ph.D. Asst. Professor of Political Science

The First Amendment protects our rights of free speech and press.

Without a constitutional amendment, the government cannot regulate social media. Some have argued that Facebook and Twitter should remove inaccurate or offensive posts, but others worry that doing so would give even more control to already powerful companies.

Unfortunately, it seems that all the garbage we see online is here to stay.

James L. Norrie, DPM Dean of the Graham School of Business

Social media is already substantially regulated whether we want it to be or not. The Internet and social media that operate through it engage federal regulatory agencies including the FCC (communications), the FTC (trade and commerce), the NSA/DHS/FBI (national security and criminality), and entities like the OCC (for online banking) or the SEC (for stock trading). Each agency has had several cases tried in

But does it have to be this way? Because we cherish ideals like individuality and freedom, the knee-jerk reaction of many Americans is to defend free speech at all costs. But consider: does a newspaper have an obligation to print every letter sent to its offices? Does a radio station have to give air time to anyone who wants it? As private companies, media outlets act as gatekeepers for speech daily, and no reasonable person sees America as any less free as a result.

What about government regulation of speech? In Germany, it is illegal to display a swastika. Hate speech is banned in France, Belgium, and Denmark. And yet, we hardly think of these European governments as tyrannical. Americans generally have no appetite for limits on speech, online or otherwise. But given groups like Westboro Baptist Church or the events in Charlottesville, we should consider whether we have anything to learn from our European counterparts.

Alumna Shannon B. Branch Chief within IC/DoD

Looking at this question as someone working in the Intelligence Community (IC), my opinion might be different from that of the average American citizen.

When looking at information in the context of protecting the U.S. national interest, every bit of data available helps to paint the story of who, what, when, where, why and how things are happening around the world and the impact they have on the safety and security of the nation.

“It has been drilled into every IC employee that there has to be a balance between people’s constitutional right to privacy versus the ability and necessity to protect these same individuals from threats.”

court to establish its right to regulate selected online aspects for which its agency is responsible. Contrary to popular conception, social media is not unregulated today. The U.S. has also passed numerous Internet-specific federal laws. Maybe the question is not should we regulate, but why is this current regulation so ineffective at accomplishing a more uniform and useful regulatory framework that actually helps us achieve what should be a shared goal: a civil, safe, and secure Internet for all?

On one hand, we have the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) announcing the approval guidelines in the use of publicly available social media data in background investigations for security clearances for federal employees and contractors. This is a great benefit to ensuring that people being hired into the federal government are not potential “insider threats” to the agencies hiring them. However, it is widely perceived and acknowledged that most college kids today post everything about their lives on social media. This can hurt their chances of being hired if there are numerous pictures of parties or other detrimental details that prospective employees would not want their future employers to know about them. Thus, the delicate balance between the lawful “need to know” and the individual’s right to privacy remains an undecided issue for social media.

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COMMUNITY

LEFT TO RIGHT:

PUSHING THE SOUND ENVELOPE Nick Comito ’19, a Music Industry/ Recording Technology (MIRT) major from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, stepped in as the play-by-play shoutcaster for game developer Ubisoft’s open-world extreme-sports game tie-in tournament.

This was one exclusive event of many that partnered with the 2018 XXIII Olympic Winter Games. While the 2018 Olympics took place in South Korea, Ubisoft’s tournament of Steep: Road to the Olympics had Comito and co-shoutcaster and longtime friend, Mitch Bell, on the next flight to the ESL (formerly known as Electronic Sports League) Studio in Katowice, Poland.

“We’ve always had that creative side, not just playing the games but trying to find ways to push it forward,” Comito said.

ESL is an eSports organizer and production company creating video game competitions worldwide and is the world’s largest and oldest eSports company still operating today.

The company hosts tournaments and partners with organizational events, such as the 2018 Winter Olympics, when it broadcasts the ESL tournaments to Olympic viewers.

The Steep tournament finale saw six finalists out of 200,000 contestants competing in the downhill skiing and snowboarding extreme-sports game.

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“We’ve always had that creative side, not just playing the games but trying to find ways to push it forward.”

— NICK COMITO ’19

Comito, who is Chief Operating Officer of York Music Group, which includes clubs such as York Live and YCP Records, says that his MIRT knowledge allowed him to produce creative videos and perform easily.

While he was in Poland, he was able to assist production because of his experiences at York College. — D.S.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

E V EN TS

A RO U N D CA M P US

Fellow shoutcasters, Joe “Munchables” Ferry, Matt Andrews, Mitch Bell, and Nick Comito ’19

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DISRUPTING SUCCESS Early this year, student leaders gathered in the Willman Business Center to learn new leadership skills. York College hosted ChangeCon, an event where students from YCP as well as other local colleges had the opportunity to hear from local leaders. Jeff Dess, founder of Trill or Not Trill, delivered the keynote speech and informed students how to “disrupt success.” His high energy kept the audience engaged as he explained the differences between leaders that maintain the norm and leaders that innovatively find success. The five-hour conference included various workshops and an opportunity for students of different disciplines to connect and share their own leadership experiences. — R.H.

October 5 – 27, 2018 1st Floor, Marketview Arts

JOEL CLEMENT, TAKING IT PERSONALLY: A WHISTLEBLOWER’S VIEW OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The graphic design exhibition complements What Were You Wearing? and #metoo exhibitions running concurrently at Marketview Arts.

Clement discusses climate change, Alaska Native communities, and how politics impact science.

October 10, 2018, 7:00 p.m.

Weinstock Lecture Hall

M EE T P HIL L IPS T H O M AS H O RN B U CK L E, J.D.

TEDX-YCP TEDx came to York in April when a group of students hosted their first TEDx event (x=independently organized TED event) as part of the Henry D. Schmidt Lecture Series. TED is a nonprofit organization advancing technology, entertainment, and design through short talks to help spread ideas and encourage discussion.

Felix Diaz ’19 (York, Pennsylvania) was emcee. Three students gave talks: Public Relations major Bryce Kruger ’18 (York, Pennsylvania), shown below, spoke on the death of listening; Computer Science major Aaron Walsh ’18 (Vienna, Virginia), discussed uncommon lessons; and Intelligence Analysis major Eric Ottman ’20 (Oak Hill, Virginia) explored change starts with you. They encouraged audience members to take the time to listen and better themselves so they can help make a difference in the world. The aim is to gather participants with different ideas from diverse disciplines and to motivate them to share their experiences and knowledge through thought-provoking dialogue.

Judging by the success of the first event, it looks as though the YCP community can look forward to seeing more TEDx events in the future. — C.K.

ISRAEL: CHALLENGES & TRIUMPHS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

An Evening with Ilan Troen, Ph.D. October 28, 2018, 7:00 p.m.

Waldner Performing Arts Center Troen, a distinguished scholar and historian who lives in Beer-Sheva, Israel, serves as co-editor of the journal Israel Studies. ► YCP.EDU/CULTURALSERIES

DIRECTOR OF INTERCULTURAL STUDENT LIFE AND GLOBAL PROGRAMMING What is your role as Director of Intercultural Student Life and Global Programming (ISLGP)?

I manage and coordinate culturally inclusive programming, develop diversity education opportunities for faculty/staff and students, and advise culturally-focused or social justice-themed student organizations.

I also serve as program director for our federal and state grants funding our sexual and relationship violence prevention efforts, help run the York Cares Pantry, and support international students, among a few other things.

What upcoming events do you have planned?

This year, our students expressed a readiness for more challenging and nuanced programming, so we worked hard to present them with thornier issues and highlight more identities. For Black History Month, we discussed racial slurs and Internet behavior with “The Case of the N Word” and educated attendees on law enforcement and civilian stances on community-police relations with the “Whose Lives Matter?” program.

The S.P.E.A.K. Coalition organized student voices around sexual violence prevention and participated in a city-wide Week of Action in April.

Allies Committed to Social Justice (ACTS), a new student organization, is working with the Southern Poverty Law Center to equip more students with the information and resources to educate others about critical topics and develop into reliable allies for underrepresented groups.

This upcoming academic year will likely see that momentum continue.

You can plan to see UNITY’s Live History Museum, LAMBDA’s Pride Week, and ACTS(J)’s YCP Fact Check.

“We would like for people to be curious about their own culture and recognize the benefit from learning about other cultures.”

What is your vision for the future of this program?

Our office’s vision is to challenge and support the entire campus development as a community, focusing first on students. We would like for people to be curious about their own culture and recognize the benefit from learning about other cultures. We would love for people to understand how possible it is to communicate effectively across various cultural barriers (socioeconomic status, age, race, gender identity, religion, and many more); active listening, compassionate consideration, and sincerity in asking those “learning questions” can take us a long way toward building a stronger and more inclusive campus and community. — D.S. YO R K C O L L E G E M A G A Z I N E • 2 0 1 8 V O L . 2

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A RO U N D CA M P US

CRIME SHOW BIAS

FROM NIGERIA TO YORK

E V EN TS

While a majority of York College students come from the York area and nearby states, sophomore David Gbogboade’s move to York covered many more miles.

Gbogboade grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and decided to come to the United States as an exchange student.

During his year away from home, Gbogboade fell in love with experiencing American culture and making new friends. The positive experiences he had during his exchange year led to the decision to continue his studies in America. He chose York College because of its small classrooms and the welcoming York environment he had come to know during his exchange year. The technology used here in the classroom, he noted, is more advanced than the resources available in Nigeria.

2018 LANGSTON LINCOLN LECTURE

Dr. Manisha Sinha November 1, 2018, 7:00 p.m.

DeMeester Recital Hall Dr. Sinha’s 2016 book, The Slave’s Cause, won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize for the year’s best book on slavery or abolition.

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YO R K C O L L E G E O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A

The technology used here in the classroom is more advanced than the resources available in Nigeria.

His goal to join the Mechanical Engineering program was temporarily thwarted by his unpreparedness for the SAT. Gbogboade learned about the SAT, a test unknown to Nigerians, late in the process and had no time to prepare. He started as an Engineering Management major, but after a year of hard work, made his way into the Mechanical Engineering program. — R.H. ► YCP.EDU/ENGINEERING

Like millions of others, Ashley Cummings ’18 (Westtown, NY) is a fan of crime-based television shows. She turned this interest into a research question: do crime shows affect the punishments people feel different criminals should receive? Over the course of her sophomore and junior years, Cummings conducted research by surveying students in the Introduction to Psychology courses. With the help of Professor Perri Druen, Ph.D., Cummings found interesting results through her research.

Participants were asked to watch one of three shows — Spongebob Squarepants, Criminal Minds, or Law and Order: Special Victims Unit — before sentencing the accused party in fictional court cases.

After analyzing participants’ responses, Cummings found statistically significant results. Those who viewed the crimebased shows tended to sentence the lawbreakers higher than participants who viewed Spongebob Squarepants. Also, she found that the participants who watched Law and Order: Special Victims Unit felt those convicted of sexual assault crimes deserved more time in prison than the participants who did not watch that show.

Cummings presented this research in York College’s Undergraduate Research Showcase earlier this year.

She hopes to make people aware of the biases TV shows can produce and

STEP AFRIKA!

November 2, 2018, 7:00 p.m.

Waldner Performing Arts Center Founded in 1994 as the first professional company dedicated to the tradition of stepping, Step Afrika! ranks as one of the top 10 African-American dance companies in the U.S.

help viewers realize that crime-based shows are not always realistic. When asked what she would tell fans of crime shows, Cummings said, “Don’t trust everything you see on TV.” While her research provides relevant results for many avid crime-show fans, she took her results one step further. She went on to pursue an independent study with the help of Professor Druen. Her additional research focused specifically on the YCP community by analyzing Mandated Reporter Training for faculty on campus.

Cummings would like to continue her involvement in similar research topics when she studies Forensic Psychology in graduate school. She has been offered a full-time position and will be pursuing her graduate degree at a later date. — R.H.

INTERIM DEANS ANNOUNCED The College has named current faculty members as interim deans for three new schools, introduced July 1, as the College restructures its academic organization from departments to five schools. Stacey N. Dammann, Ed.D., is the Interim Dean of the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education. Timothy J. Garrison, Ph.D., is the Interim Dean of The Kinsley School of Engineering, Sciences, and Technology. John G. Hughes, Ed.D., is the Interim Dean of the School of the Arts, Communication, and Global Studies. They joined James Norrie, DPM, Dean of The Graham School of Business and Nezam Al-Nsair, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT This year, 10 dedicated Engineering seniors worked on a multidisciplinary group project to build a fully functioning hobbyist electric car.

“Engineering is a series of failures that leads to success,” said Don Hake, a professor in the Engineering and Computer Science Department, who was faculty advisor for the 2018 electric car capstone project. Hake encourages students to learn from real-world, hands-on experience, and shares his 30 years of project management and development in the fields of engineering and computer science.

“This is the wave of the future,” Hake stated. “It’s current. It introduces a very large multidisciplinary project. Its main focus is not Mechanical Engineering, it’s not Electrical Engineering, it’s not Computer Engineering, it’s not Software Engineering. It is all of that together.”

Building a car is an intricate and skilled art that requires teamwork to deliver results. As head of the software sub-team, Alex Smith ’18 (Brookfield, CT)

LEFT TO RIGHT: Senior Alex Smith

answers questions from juniors, Jason Bady and Thomas Cudney.

worked with all team members to design, create, and configure schematic diagrams into physical circuit boards, as well as the software necessary to communicate with and control the systems that other subteams had designed and built for the car.

Smith, a Computer Engineering major, spent the past year as a software engineer for Episo, a startup website in the video production industry while he also interned for BD, an R&D engineering company specializing in medical devices, and before that, Johnson Controls, located in York, Pennsylvania.

“My dream job is not to be on the leading edge of technology but on the bleeding edge,” he said.

Smith plans to continue this research through an independent study in which he hopes to make the car into an autonomousready electric car. His overall mission is to uncover what is necessary to control the car, to manipulate a computer program and learn how to control it, and to teach and share this new knowledge with the YCP community and the world. — D.S.

THE LEIF ERICSON VIKING SHIP: BRINGING THE VIKING WORLD TO LIFE

TICK, TICK … BOOM!

By Jonathan Larson Directed by Mitch Nugent

November 8, 2018, 6:00 p.m.

DeMeester Recital Hall

November 8 – 10, 2018, 7:30 p.m.

November 10, 2018, 3:00 p.m.

Perko Black Box Theatre

Members of the Leif Ericson Viking Ship, Inc. (LEVS) describe Viking history and culture. ► YCP.EDU/CULTURALSERIES

An intimate pop/rock autobiographical musical; it tells the story of an aspiring composer who questions his life choices on the eve of his 30th birthday.

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A RO U N D CA M P US

SPRING COMMENCEMENT In his address, Governor Tom Wolf thanked alumnus Anthony Campisi ’76, President/CEO of Glatfelter Insurance Group, who received an honorary degree, and said the world is very different today for May 2018 graduates than the one he faced when he was a graduate. Even though it is constantly changing, he declared, “We still have the same responsibility to be a part of bettering our community and our world.”

He described how to effectively achieve this by facing what he calls the “mirror test.” Essentially, this means being your own judge and challenging yourself to live a life that makes a difference. You can then look back with a sense of accomplishment and pride. In the Governor’s view, making a difference includes maintaining and building prosperous relationships —

both personal and professional; being involved in your community; actively improving your career — not just your own position, but the field as a whole; being an active contributor in the political system to help democracy move forward and thrive as it was meant to; and, finally, showing compassion and care toward others. He concluded, “The point is that your world will be precisely that — your world. You’ll make it. You and your generation will decide what it looks like and how it works.” — C.K. ► YCP.EDU/COMMENCEMENT

“I would tell freshmen to get involved in three things when they first come to campus.”

— JASMIN SANTOS ’18

ADVICE FROM GRADUATES Among the graduates listening to the Governor’s remarks were Jasmin Santos (Bronx, NY) and Joe Salerno (Islip, NY). We asked them to offer advice for new students.

Psychology major Santos said, “I would tell freshmen to get involved in three things when they first come to campus. Something that they are involved in or already interested in, something that has to do with their major, and something that they never thought they would ever do.”

Salerno, a Criminal Justice major, let us know what he would say to the move-in day version of himself. He stressed to “Get involved!” and said, “You will meet so many great people and your college experience will be much more enjoyable.” His other useful tip is to “hit the gym because the Freshman 15 [weight gained during a student’s first year at college] is a real thing!”

To hear more from Santos and Salerno please watch their videos on ycp.edu/commencement. Spartans are always welcome to come back and visit campus. Check the alumni pages at ycp.edu/alumni, use the YCP mobile app, call 717-815-6642, or email alumni@ycp.edu for news and events.

LEFT TO RIGHT:

E V EN TS

Governor Tom Wolf, President of York College, Dr. Pamela Gunter-Smith, and Anthony Campisi ’76

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SHE GON’ LEARN WITH LISA STRUM

THE JOHN PATITUCCI TRIO

November 14, 2018, 7:30 p.m.

DeMeester Recital Hall

November 18, 2018, 7:30 p.m.

Waldner Performing Arts Center

Lisa Strum plays eight different characters as she navigates a triumphant coming-of-age journey to self-love and, ultimately, self-respect.

Three-time Grammy Award winner, John Patitucci has been at the forefront of the jazz world for 33 years and is active in all styles of music.

YO R K C O L L E G E O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A

► YCP.EDU/CULTURALSERIES

OV ERH E A RD

“Getting to hit that buzzer, it just eradicated any of those feelings [from four years ago when he fell]. It just felt like a huge burden was lifted off my back.”

Chad Riddle ’11, a Manheim elementary school kindergarten teacher, was quoted in “Meet Chad Riddle the kindergarten teacher who conquered an American Ninja Warrior course” by Dustin B. Levy in the Evening Sun, June 26, 2018, after he competed for the second time and qualified for the Philadelphia City Finals.

Another Spartan, Tim Dexter ’19, also competed in an episode of American Ninja Warrior this summer.

“Relationships matter.

Trust is important in keeping them strong.

NATO nations need to believe that the U.S. will keep its word with regards to its commitment to this enduring alliance, for now and well into the future.”

John Weaver, D.P.A., Assistant Professor of Intelligence Analysis and Tom Roseth, Associate Professor at the Norwegian Defense Command and Staff College, Oslo, Norway, were co-authors of “Transatlantic alliance concerns: The U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal,” in The Hill, May 31, 2018.

“Facebook is not a public service. It is a for-profit corporate behemoth, with revenues of over $40 billion in 2017, founded by a genius techie who believes he is changing the world while making himself and his shareholders wealthy.”

James Norrie, DPM, Dean of the Graham School of Business, and Eric Hostler, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Information Technology Management, talked about Facebook in a May 3, 2018, guest editorial for Opinion, Penn Live. Go to p. 3 in this issue to hear Norrie’s opinion on “Should Social Media be regulated?”

“The relationship benefits both sides … But it is a chance for York College to become more invested in the downtown. This is where we live. This is where we lay our head … It’s our city. You don’t pick up York College and move it like companies can.”

John Hughes, Ed.D., Interim Dean of the School of the Arts, Communication, and Global Studies spoke about how the Yorktowne Hotel will work closely with students from the College’s Hospitality Management program in “Saving Yorktowne: Unlikely story of how York landed Hilton and why that’s such a big deal,” by Anthony J. Machcinski, in the York Daily Record, June 4, 2018. See p. 10 for more about the project.

“When they inject these eggs with the virus, they are prone to egg-adapted changes, or small changes that happen because they are cultured in eggs. The antibodies that you get out of it are now a response against a slightly different virus, which reduces effectiveness.”

In the February 27, 2018, Reading Eagle article, “Flu vaccine still your best shot at avoiding sickness,” by Matthew Nojiri, Assistant Professor of Biology, Meda Higa, Ph.D., described how flu vaccine is produced in eggs and said researchers are looking at a cell-based vaccine approach that could lead to a more effective flu shot.

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EN G AGIN G YO RK

RENOVATING YORKTOWNE HOTEL

By Rachel Harclerode ’18

York College’s Hospitality Management program has formed a partnership with the city that will help renovate one of the most historical buildings in York — the Yorktowne Hotel. This partnership, which will include student involvement until the renovation’s completion in 2020, offers a unique hands-on learning experience for students. The Hospitality Management students involved for the beginning stages of the renovation were able to sit in on group meetings, help in the design process, and complete their own project for the hotel.

LEFT TO RIGHT: At the start

of the project, John Hughes, Ed.D., Gillian Caplan ’19, Julie Heisey ’18, Jack Kay, and Andrew Fare ’20 review the work to be done.

Originally built in 1925, the Yorktowne Hotel served as a historic gathering place for the York community. It became a community investment as many citizens helped build it. John Hughes, Ed.D., and Director of the Hospitality Management program, described the Hotel as “part of the culture and heritage” of York City. This historical background of the hotel makes the College’s involvement in its restoration an accurate reflection of the strong relationship between the city and school.

In the spring of 2018, three Hospitality Management students participated in the renovation process.

Andrew Fare ’20, Gillian Caplan ’19, and Julie Heisey ’18 were the students who worked with Professor Hughes and many others, including Jack Kay, spokesman of the Industrial Development Authority. These students gained valuable and applicable learning

experiences through two types of participation. The first type of learning came from attending meetings where everyone involved discussed plans for the renovation project. While attending these meetings, the students saw the owner, managers, architect, construction workers, and government officials all come together to collaborate on the project. The second type of learning came from completing a semester-long project that the previously mentioned stakeholders assigned to the students.

The completed project will benefit the overall renovation project.

This historical background of the hotel makes the College’s involvement in its restoration an accurate reflection of the strong relationship between the city and school.

Professor Hughes expressed an interest in opening up the school involvement to students from other disciplines. As students involved in the process graduate, he hopes to continually add new students. He says that Public Relations, Marketing, Mass Communications, Professional Writing, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, and History majors could all potentially play significant roles in the process.

While hospitality management is an obvious aspect of reopening a hotel, Professor Hughes says that there is an integration of art and culture into the hotel that makes a wide variety of disciplines important in the renovating and reopening process.

In addition to student contribution to the actual remodeling process, there will also be opportunities for students to participate in the daily operations of the hotel once it reopens. This large-scale project reflects the College’s unique placement in a city that offers endless opportunities for students.

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YO R K C O L L E G E O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A

LEFT TO RIGHT: Anthony

Bowlin ’18, Michael Wyche, Ashleen Hayes ’18, and Amanda Redhouse ’18 look over a device at Shadowfax.

IMPROVING THE WORKPLACE

By Colleen A. Karl

York College engineering students are gaining applicable real-world experience by designing and building devices to benefit clients at Shadowfax, a local private, nonprofit company. Shadowfax supports individuals with disabilities in residential services, pre-vocational/ life skills services and in finding a job/ becoming members of their community.

Professors, Scott Kiefer, Ph.D., and James Moscola, Ph.D., led the projects in their capstone design classes with students Jake Bailey ’18 (Reading, PA), Anthony Bowlin ’18 (White Hall, MD), Brian Dunne ’18 (Collegeville, PA), Ashleen Hayes ’18 (New Castle, DE), and Amanda Redhouse ’18 (Bensalem, PA). Although the capstone class is a requirement for all engineering students to graduate, they do have the freedom to choose their project. Kiefer says Shadowfax was the top choice of students involved in this year’s project.

“If we can manufacture a simple fixture or machine that’s going to reliably serve Shadowfax long-term, we can improve their productivity.”

— SCOTT KIEFER, PH.D.

Kiefer explains, “The class itself has some specific course requirements.

Some of these requirements are working together in a team and completing the design and build of an engineering project to meet a set of project specifications. Personally, I think it’s great for the students to actually be able to interact with the people who will be using the devices.”

The project allows for students to not only gain valuable experience in their

area of study, but also use their skills to benefit the community. “Our team was provided an opportunity to help improve the workplace and work experience of someone in need,” said Bowlin. Initially, the professors will go with them to the business, but in order to build the device using an interactive process with design and testing, the students take the lead on their individual projects and return to speak with the client and modify their design based on feedback.

“Following the lead of the College, the Engineering Department has made a conscious effort for our capstone class to be community-minded, and Shadowfax fits very nicely into this mission,” says Kiefer.

One of this year’s most rewarding moments, Bailey recalls, was when they gave clients the first prototype. “They loved it so much, they wouldn’t let us take it back to the College after we asked to take it back for upgrades and repairs,” he said. The goal is to make devices that speed up the process for Shadowfax clients and help enhance their training.

“If we can manufacture a simple fixture or machine that’s going to reliably serve Shadowfax long-term, we can improve their productivity,” says Kiefer.

Kiefer and Moscola have been working with Shadowfax for three years and plan to continue collaboration in the capstone design class.

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SPA RTA N SP O RTS

SCO RECA RD

L ACROSSE The men’s lacrosse team posted 19 wins and advanced to the NCAA Division III Elite Eight for the 2nd time in school history. York went 8-0 in Capital Athletic Conference play to earn the regular season championship.

Head coach Brandon Childs was named the CAC Coach of the Year for the second straight campaign as York had nine players on the All-CAC squads.

COLE FENTON ’19 INSPIRES HIS TEAM Student Men’s Lacrosse Manager Cole Fenton ’19 (Hopewell, NJ) inspired his team to take the win against St. Mary’s College of Maryland after his opening ceremonial goal on April 11, 2018, at Kinsley Field. With a hidden ball trick and assistance from fellow teammate, Hunter Davis ’19 (Finksburg, MD), Fenton scored the first goal of the game igniting crowd cheers and leading his team to sprint onto the field and surround him with congratulations. His courage and strength seemed to spark the team’s drive to dominate their opponent.

With a lifelong love of sports, Fenton was formerly the team manager for his high school lacrosse team and he hoped to continue this path in college.

After a remarkable recommendation letter from his high school coach, Men’s Lacrosse Coach, Brandon Childs, made Fenton’s dream a reality. “It all started with an email from his high school coach. It caught my attention with the subject title, ‘The best recommendation letter I’ll ever write,’ ” said Childs.

Fenton was born with a rare medical condition that forced him to undergo 26 surgeries. He is limited in his ability to engage in contact sports so he chose 12

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Fenton would often be found spending countless hours before practice helping team members improve their skills. to get involved in another way. Going above and beyond the duties of the average team manager, Fenton would often be found spending countless hours before practice helping team members improve their skills. He had no problem fitting right in. His teammates see him as an inspiration and look up to him.

“I want to be that face, and be like, ‘Look, I went through it. I know it’s bad, but it does get better,’ ” said Fenton.

He’s always wanted to suit up for a game and even counted it high on his bucket list. He not only had the chance to cross this off his list, but he motivated his team to make the game one of the most memorable in their record-breaking season. The Spartans completed the 2018 season as the number-two ranked team in the NCAA Division III athletic conference. — C.K. ► YCPSPARTANS.COM

The women’s lacrosse team earned their third NCAA Division III Elite Eight appearance in the last four years.

They went 15-5 and finished 2nd in the CAC and placed six players on the all-conference squads. York had three players earn IWLCA All-American honors: Nicole Clauter ’19 and Meghan Fox ’20 were first team selections and Devin Hursey ’20 was a third team pick.

BASKETBALL Senior men’s basketball standout Dalton Myers earned the 2018 CAC Men’s Scholar Athlete of the Year, the 5th Spartan to win the award. He led the Spartans to the 2018 CAC Men’s Basketball championship and the program’s 5th NCAA Tournament appearance. Myers had a 3.75 GPA and earned Dean’s List honors eight times.

“The tradition of success for the York College men’s soccer program runs deep. From Jim May to Jon Ports, we have been blessed to have fantastic players who have enabled our program to be one of the best in the region. It’s impressive to look back over our history to see what has been accomplished by this program and our goal is to add more accomplishments in the coming years.”

— EVAN SCHEFFEY, HEAD MEN’S SOCCER COACH, SPARTAN SPORTS

50 Y E A RS AGO

THEN AND NOW

MEN’S SOCCER

Players: Front row: Cyril “Skip” Moerschbacher, John Young, John Gettier, Captain Patrick McGinn, Dale Coble, Ronald Young, John Zenelis, Steven Scipiani, Thomas Sheehan.

Back row: Michael Whelehan, Gary Thomas, Mike Hadden, John Allison, James May, Thomas Trafton, Richard Gamber, Dan Dorsheimer.

1968 The newly formed York Junior College’s men’s soccer team, coached by Robert Cummings, scored a total of 15 goals.

They went on to win four games, one of them against Catonsville College, who was ranked fourth in the nation at the time. York averaged 1.5 goals per game.

2017 In 18 games, the men’s soccer team scored 38 goals in total, en route to a 7-8-3 record. Averaging 2.11 goals per game, they finished the season in fourth place in the competitive Capital Athletic Conference (CAC).

Head Coach is Evan Scheffey.

YORK COLLEGE TEAMS CELEBRATING THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY Roster: Devin Weiner ’19 (Rockville, MD), Liam Thomas ’20 (Media, PA), Billy Bridegum ’21 (Silver Spring, MD), Jordan Evans ’18 (Hanover, MD), Tony Mosqueira ’20 (Woodbridge, VA), Brook Addisu ’20 (Silver Spring, MD), Keegan Wilson ’19 (York Haven, PA), Chris Hobbs ’18 (Horsham, PA), Nathan Bilbie ’19 (Shrewsbury, PA), Zion Friday ’21 (Bethesda, MD), Joh Weeast ’21 (Eastampton, NJ), Keith Witherell ’20 (Arlington, VA), Ben Mochan ’18 (Sinking Spring, PA), Danny Morgan ’21 (Lumberton, NJ), Pat Harkanson ’21 (Riverside, NJ), Malcom Djiki ’20 (North Bethesda, MD), Joey Faddoul ’20

(Alexandria, VA), Dan Bechtel ’19 (Boyertown, PA), Marc Murgo ’20 (Sicklerville, NJ), Sam Johnson ’20 (East Berlin, PA), Michael Unis ’20 (Mertztown, PA), Barak Amige ’20 (Gaithersburg, MD), Ethan Lloyd ’21 (Fairfax, VA), Ali Demiri ’20 (Harrisburg, PA), Cristobal Corvalan ’20 (Rockville, MD), Oscar Rodriguez ’21 (Silver Spring, MD), Kenny Crist ’21 (Finksburg, MD), Julien Charleston ’21 (Olney, MD), Daniel Juresic ’21 (Gaithersburg, MD), Aiden Wisley ’21 (Milngavie, Scotland), Joel Teston ’18 (Manassas, VA), Kyle Hennigan ’21 (York, PA), Michael Pearson ’21 (Collegeville, PA)

Baseball Basketball Cross Country Golf Soccer Tennis Track and Field Wrestling

Intramural Women’s Team Sports: Basketball Bowling Field Hockey Softball Volleyball

► YCP.EDU/50THANNIVERSARY YO R K C O L L E G E M A G A Z I N E • 2 0 18 V O L . 2

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PURSUITS

A SERIOUS CHALLENGE Casey Scheffler ’18 (Chester Springs, PA) tackled a controversial global issue with her research, Facebook, the Decline of Ethos, and the Vaccine Controversy in the spring semester, which examined the influence of social media, particularly Facebook, on the vaccine controversy, as well as how ethos [arguments based on a writer’s or speaker’s professional experience, qualifications, credibility, and moral character] is used differently today than it has been used historically.

She performed research based on journal articles and utilized a theoretical approach when examining the issue and gathering her data. She also joined three different Facebook groups and carried out a content analysis on the posts involved. She specifically looked for instances of how ethos is created digitally on these online platforms.

Scheffler found that online ethos is now created based on web design and credibility. In relation to specific Facebook groups, she learned that these different groups are created for people to share opinions and ideas. She also found that people tend to believe false opinions about vaccinations from people in these groups more than they did their own health care providers.

She concluded that this was due to the relevancy of Facebook and other social media in people’s lives, as well as the recent assimilation of the concept of “fake news” in the perceptions and views of news audiences.

The international relevancy and the amount of interest it has garnered from people in Facebook groups caught Scheffler’s attention and led to her interest in pursuing the project.

Her faculty mentor, Michael Zerbe, Ph.D., said that “Casey’s project 14

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“After she lays her eggs, the female will pee on the nest to mask the scent.” speaks to a very serious challenge in today’s culture.” From her research, Scheffler hoped to discover if people’s Facebook posts and differing opinions contributed to the vaccine controversy.

She also hoped to discover the ways in which ethos was used in these Facebook posts and the ways in which ethos is used in our digital realms today as opposed to in the past.

“Casey’s project speaks to a very serious challenge in today’s culture.”

— MICHAEL ZERBE, PH.D.

This project was nominated by the English and Humanities Department to appear in both the department’s undergraduate research showcase and the College’s undergraduate research showcase. Scheffler said, “I think the showcases went really well. I liked the use of the different disciplines within the showcase.” She will be staying at York College for an extra semester and upon graduating, she plans to go into technical writing. — G.C.

SAVING RED-BELLIED TURTLES This summer, Jessica Nolan, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology, along with student, Reilly Kobus ’19 (York, PA), a Biology major, organized a research project on red-bellied turtles at Lake Marburg in Codorus State

— REILLY KOBUS ’19

Park. The species is threatened in the state of Pennsylvania and find their home in the park dwindling. Nolan and Kobus located 15 turtles and installed transmitters to the shells of six adults (four female, two male) so they may track them and study their habits.

They tracked them through mating season and plan to keep researching them through the nesting season so they may help keep an eye on the eggs.

They believe the turtles are struggling against environmental factors including nests being dug up and eggs eaten by raccoons or foxes, run over by cars as they attempt to cross a road, and hit by boat motors. “After she lays her eggs, the female will pee on the nest to mask the scent,” said Reilly.

During the summer months, vegetation growth makes it difficult for turtles to dive quickly as boats approach.

Nolan and Kobus presented three sessions at the Codorus Blast Festival, In The Park, in June to the public to ask for help sighting turtles. The locals are key, they say, to their research as they know the area and are around the lake more. Nolan has been working with the park for the past 10 years and said this year, 15 was the most she ever caught — the largest being 31 inches and the smallest being the size of her palm.

The ladies spoke about what to do when coming across a turtle; especially if the turtle is attempting to cross the road and only when it is safe to do so, stop to pick it up and move it to the other side in the direction the turtle was headed. If you take it back to where it came from, it would continue to cross the road as before. By instinct, turtles return to the same place of nesting each year and sometimes that requires crossing a busy highway.

Nolan and Kobus need the public’s help to keep track of the turtles. If you are local to the Codorus State Park area and see a red-bellied turtle, please contact Nolan at jnolan@ ycp.edu. Please take a picture and include information about where the turtle was located. — C.K.

Illustrations by Tim Boelaars

H A N DS- O N

CONNECTING GENERATIONS Behavioral Science majors have an opportunity to participate in a unique hands-on experience that enhances their understanding of long-term care for older adults. Professors Mary Ligon, Ph.D., and Carla Strassle, Ph.D., are working with a local long-term care facility on a program that benefits residents and students. “Three years ago,” Ligon says, “SpiriTrust Lutheran came to me and proposed the idea of making two rooms and meals available to two York College students free of charge as a new way of promoting intergenerational connectedness.” In this groundbreaking program that links generations, students reside at the facility for one semester, share five meals a week with residents, and contribute 15-20 hours of service per month.

Students gain valuable firsthand knowledge that will stand them in good stead when they begin their careers. Residents enjoy interacting and forming relationships with members of the younger generation.

Ligon says, “This is an opportunity for a great learning experience for students. It was estimated that they would learn more about longterm care, older adults and aging, intergenerational relationships, and person-centered care.” To improve understanding of long-term care, faculty members found this to be the perfect research opportunity to gather data on residents, members of their family, staff, and the students.

Ligon discovered her passion for working in gerontology from spending 15 years with elders as a Recreation Therapist in healthcare.

She believes, “Old age is a time of learning and growth, a time when people develop new insights and ways of viewing not only themselves, but the world around them.” — C.K.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Professor Mary

Ligon talks with Betty Hoover, a resident of SpiriTrust.

“This is an opportunity for a great learning experience for students. It was estimated that they would learn more about long-term care, older adults and aging, intergenerational relationships, and person-centered care.”

— MARY LIGON, PH.D.

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COVER STORY

BY ANDREW M Y ERS P H OTO G R A P H Y BY J O N AT H A N M O U N T

RETRIEVING THE DRONE Samantha Gotwalt ’19 retrieves the student-built, flying-wing design drone fitted with a specialized camera that takes infrared photos to help farmers increase their efficiency. She was part of a groundbreaking senior-year capstone course for York engineering students and was in charge of airframe design. This photo was taken by another drone.

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https://yorkcountypa.gov/ images/pdf/ag-land-prev/ Agricultural-Facts-York-County-PA.pdf

For centuries, York, Pennsylvania, has relied on farming as an economic engine. Of the county’s roughly 580,000 acres of land, almost exactly one-third is dedicated to farming. When you factor forested land into the equation, almost two-thirds of the county is vegetated. At last count, there were more than 2,300 individual farms in the county.

They measure about 121 acres on average, but many are much smaller 1. Corn and soybeans are the major cash crops. Despite this enduring legacy, however, farming has become a hand-to-mouth existence for many.

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D RO N E’ S E Y E VIE W

I

f you do the math, farmers don’t make much money,” says Drew Wilkerson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at York College. He says a typical acre can yield maybe 200 bushels of corn on the very best of days, but often it is far less. In today’s market, a bushel of corn fetches about $3.70.

“That’s $740 an acre, but if you subtract out the cost of seed, herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizer and a typical 100-acre farm is lucky to clear $30,000 a year,” Wilkerson explains. “Many farmers have to have part-time jobs just to stay in business.”

It may seem odd that a mechanical engineering professor would know so much about agriculture, but Wilkerson has a unique perspective on the subject — literally. He has designed a senior-year capstone course for York engineering students where they build, program, and operate cutting-edge drones equipped with specialized cameras to help farmers become more efficient.

He says they have had tremendous support from the local community — in particular Dave Shepp, Ryan Heindel, and Bill Whale of the York Area RC Club.

“All this knowledge from the light reflected off of the plants.

It’s pretty incredible. You can photograph a 100-acre farm in about 15 minutes.” — DREW WILKERSON, PH.D. Wilkerson and his students photograph York County’s farms and analyze the light reflecting off the plants below. From this rich data, using sophisticated computer applications, they can assess how well the plants are doing, where fertilizer is most needed, and whether insects are taking a toll. The farmers can then use that data to optimize their chemical use, spraying expensive — and environmentally consequential — fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides only where they are most needed.

“We are trying to reduce the amount of the chemicals while keeping the yields high, but there’s a lot to learn for the kids, too,” Wilkerson says.

The drone is designed, built, and operated by students.

Guided from the ground, it soars high above the neat rows of crops, zipping back and forth in a tight lawn mower-like pattern across the fields. Each pass is closely controlled by GPS. The drone is fitted with a specialized camera that has no fewer than five distinct lenses, each capturing different types of light being reflected from the crops below.

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ABOVE: Left to

right, Seniors Samantha Gotwalt, Mark Freidhoff, Blayde Reich, and Aaron Nagy keep an eye on the weather as Reich prepares to launch the drone, which will fly over a local farmer’s cornfield.

TEAM MEMBERS

GROUP 1 Michael Allen (Owings, MD) Electrical Engineering major Focused on every aspect of corn farms.

Benjamin Demchak (Phoenix, MD) Electrical Engineering major In charge of multispectral camera setup and operations.

Brandon van Gennip (Clarksville, MD) Electrical Engineering major Concentrated on the system and power management of the aircraft.

Samantha Gotwalt (York, PA) Mechanical Engineering major In charge of airframe design and studied airflows and stability.

Blayde Reich (Lebanon, PA) Mechanical Engineering major The Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) who flew the aircraft drones.

Robert Seitz (Stewartstown, PA) Computer Engineering major Worked on the autopilot setup and operations of the drones.

Mitchell Slater (Dover, PA) Electrical Engineering major Focused on the drone’s transmitter set up and operations.

TEAM MEMBERS

GROUP 2 Professor Wilkerson broke the second group of students into four groups of three students each.

He said the Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) and Video Analysis teams will have some overlap but will cover multispectral analysis of the farm’s crops and flight operations. RPIC will focus on flight operations, but also act as our interface to the farmers.

The Multispectral team will need to understand not only the farmers’ crops but also the technology being used to analyze those crops.

Wilkerson runs down the litany of light with the fervor of a true engineer — it does near-infrared, red-edge, red, blue and green, and invisible light, he says.

“The camera alone is $3,500,” Wilkerson notes. “That’s a lot for a small group like ours, but it makes for a fun senior course that touches on lots of areas of engineering.”

Once the photography is captured and downloaded, the images are stitched together photographically, the way Google creates bird’s-eye views of the world from multiple satellite images. The result is a mosaic — an entire farm drawn in bright primary colors. While those images are not necessarily beautiful to the untrained eye, in the hands of experts they mean the world. Hidden in the light are untold secrets that can help farmers optimize their investments. This is known in technical terms as multispectral analysis.

“All this knowledge from the light reflected off of the plants. It’s pretty incredible,” Wilkerson says. “You can photograph a 100-acre farm in about 15 minutes.”

Wilkerson also notes saving money is one of many benefits of this technology. There are environmental upsides, too. Fertilizers like nitrogen and phosphorous can leech into the water supply and cause harmful algae blooms that wreak havoc on aquatic ecosystems by sucking oxygen out of the water and creating so-called “dead zones” where no creature can survive.

RPIC Aaron Nagy (Mercersburg, PA) Brandon Macht (Limerick, PA) Wyatt Barnett (Willow Street, PA) VIDEO ANALYSIS Douglas Nicholson (Simsbury, CT) Md Ashraf Uddin (York, PA) Travis Wetzel (Liverpool, PA) Wilkerson said “the other two groups are focused on the airframe and the building of a platform from which we can gather data for the first two groups.

This includes how to design and build an aircraft capable of supporting the mission. The aircraft needs to be fully autonomous to do its mission effectively.”

Brandon van Gennip ’19 works with Professor Drew Wilkerson in the field. Van Gennip concentrated on the system and power management of the craft.

Photo by Mike Adams

AIRFRAME Mark Freidhoff (New Freedom, PA) Jacob Thomas (New Freedom, PA) Zachery Miller (Allentown, PA) FLIGHT CONTROLS Darren Webb (Muncy, PA) Ben Linne (York, PA) Billy Sasso (York, PA)

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The typical corn farm receives two doses of nitrogen per season, once as seeds are sown in the ground and again when the corn is about two feet tall. Less spraying means lower costs for the farmer, but also less nitrogen in the water supply.

While multispectral analysis may pay dividends in the wallet and on the waterfront, it helps in other more subtle ways, too. For instance, Wilkerson adds, agricultural experts and entomologists have become alarmed in recent years by the decline of bee populations. Bees are critical to agriculture for distributing pollen and aiding plant reproduction. That decline has been correlated with the use of certain insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, that are often sprayed liberally on fields. Helping to reduce the amount of neonicotinoids used or by increasing the precision of the spraying could have beneficial effects for bee populations.

K ALEIDOSCOPE EYES One of the indicators of nitrogen is a light index called NDVI — short for normalized difference vegetation index.

In technical terms, NDVI is a ratio of near-infrared light and what is known as red-edge light. While the technical details can be challenging for non-engineers, the results are obvious to anyone with just a glance at one of Wilkerson’s multispectral images.

“All that reflectivity gives us a weird-looking plot,” Wilkerson says. “But, when you look at it, where you see green, that means there’s nitrogen and that’s good news.

No need to spray there. If it’s red that means a deficiency and you want to spray in those spots.”

While it seems remarkable that all this insight can be drawn out of the light, what follows next is even more remarkable. Wilkerson can download his spectral analyses, complete with GPS waypoints of spray and nospray areas that are spatially accurate to 10 centimeters.

This data all fits on a thumb drive which he then plugs into a GPS-controlled smart tractor and computers do the rest. Carefully guided by GPS, the tractor is able to precisely control the application of chemicals.

“The tractor knows when to spray and how much to spray and it reduces the amount that the farmer has to put on the crop. This saves them real money,” Wilkerson says.

Wilkerson got his start as a military research scientist where he worked for the U.S. Army for more than 33 years before joining the faculty at York College two years ago. He earned his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins in 1990 and is an expert in robotics and unmanned systems. For the last 15 years of his military career, he focused on robotics and drones.

When he first started at York, Wilkerson joined a drone flying club, as much as a hobby as anything else, he says, but then he saw a video of a team of researchers using a 20

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“All that reflectivity gives us a weird looking plot. But, when you look at it, where you see green, that means there’s nitrogen and that’s good news. No need to spray there. If it’s red that means a deficiency and you want to spray in those spots.”

— DREW WILKERSON, PH.D.

ABOVE:

Left to right, Aaron Nagy, Blayde Reich, Mark Freidhoff, and Samantha Gotwalt get ready as Reich prepares to launch the drone.

LEFT:

SIX OPTIONS FOR AGRICULTUR AL DRONES

1. Soil and field analysis 2. Planting 3. Crop spraying 4. Crop monitoring 5. Irrigation 6. Health assessment Courtesy of MIT, www.technologyreview.com/ s/601935/six-ways-drones-arerevolutionizing-agriculture/

The Infrared photo shows the same field that appears in our feature photos.

Red indicates a nitrogen deficiency.

RIGHT:

Aaron Nagy, Samantha Gotwalt, Blayde Reich, and Mark Freidhoff hold the student-built drone while the Engineering Department’s drone hovers overhead.

drone to analyze the canopies of the tall Sequoia forests out west. He saw a niche.

“I pitched it to the school and that’s how we got the capstone class. It’s been a lot of fun,” Wilkerson says.

A TEAM OF TEAMS The capstone team of seniors is actually a collection of four smaller teams that each takes on certain engineering responsibilities. There is plenty of work to go around and need for almost every sort of engineering talent out there, mechanical, chemical, aeronautical, computer science and so forth.

First, there is a team dedicated exclusively to learning to fly the drone. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires drone pilots to have a license.

“We call it flight ops,” he says. “The goal is to earn what is known as ‘Part 107’ FAA license.”

This is no easy task. There is a security clearance as well as subject matter exam. Last semester, just one of Wilkerson’s students passed the exam. This semester he thinks two, possibly three, others might earn their wings.

“And they have to study a lot. The sectional charts.

They have to know weather. They have to know lots about drone maintenance, too,” he says.

Another team is known as “the farming group.” These team members are charged with learning everything they

can about the business of farming, so that the knowledge imparted by multispectral analysis can be put to good use.

In short, the farming group has to learn about growing corn and soy bean, including what pests attack corn and what nutrients corn needs, as well as how pH of the soil affects yield. It is a multidisciplinary team. Wilkerson says he will probably have one mechanical engineer on the farming team and several computer science majors.

“ The camera alone is $3,500.

That’s a lot for a small group like ours, but it makes for a fun senior course that touches on lots of areas of engineering.”

— DREW WILKERSON, PH.D.

“They really have their work cut out for them. They need to know all the different tests that can be done using multispectral imaging to assess those characteristics of a field of crops,” he says.

The third group is an airframe team that designs and builds the drone. And, when Wilkerson says “design,” he means it. The drone must be able to stay aloft for an hour, enough to photograph up to 500 acres at a time. While this parameter is far larger than most farms in York County, it is still much smaller than the biggest plots, which can be 2,500 acres or more.

“They can’t just go buy some drone off the shelf. They’ve got to create it. We’re using a flying wing design and they need to know why that design is so efficient and good for these purposes,” he says.

Last but not least, there is the autonomous control group that programs the autopilot that guides the drone as it makes its finely tuned flight patterns in the sky.

They are responsible for recovering the airplane if there’s a problem, as well. No minor duty when the drone and its expensive camera hang in the balance.

At the conclusion of the yearlong capstone course, the students make a group report and presentation of their findings before earning their diplomas and heading off to their next engineering adventures. This year’s presentation marked the culmination of the first year of Wilkerson’s capstone course. It was a year of tremendous learning opportunities and personal growth for the students and himself, Wilkerson says.

“It was a great first year, but there’s a lot still to work on,” he says. “I’m looking forward to next year already.” ► YCP.EDU/ENGINEERING YO R K C O L L E G E M A G A Z I N E • 2 0 18 V O L . 2

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IN FO CUS

YCP IN LIBERIA Three of our Graham Innovation Scholars, seniors Cathy Cooper (Coatesville, PA) and Megan Chaney (Baldwin, MD) and junior Ezra Moore (Dallas, PA), traveled to Liberia this summer as part of their Global Travel Experience to learn more about the healthcare sector as well as the history and culture of this small West African country. While in Liberia they had the opportunity to visit urban and rural hospitals and clinics and were hosted by the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL). The students created a report outlining what they see as the biggest challenges facing the healthcare sector of Liberia. This international experience was designed and implemented by the students with assistance from Associate Professor David Fyfe, Ph.D. LEFT TO RIGHT: Business owner,

Hesta Baker-Pearson; Guide, Rhoda King of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia; Driver and Guide, Bryant Saah; Megan Chaney, Cathy Cooper, Love, and Ezra Moore Photo by Professor Fyfe

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“ WHAT I REMEMBER MOST”

Scott Hafer in 1972 (below) and in 2018.

BY COLLEEN A . K ARL

Despite a time of turbulence, Scott Hafer ’72 says, “what I remember most about my time here was the friendships that were established and lasted long after graduation.” Students at the York Junior College, which was soon to become York College of Pennsylvania, tried to focus on their education while historic events, including the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. occurred.

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In 1968, the school went from a two-year junior college to a fouryear baccalaureate institution.

This transition was facilitated by Dr. Ray A. Miller, president of York Junior College from 1959 to 1968 and president of York College from 1968 to 1975.

As we celebrate this milestone in our school’s history, we wondered what it was like to be a student some 50 years ago. We asked Dean Emig ’68, Barb Sleeger ’71, and Scott Hafer ’72, as well as recently retired Graham School of Business professor, Thomas Lepson, Ph.D., to talk about their experiences.

Newspaper clipping shows Scott Hafer, one of three students who set a world record for treading water in the College pool.

LIVING IN A PERIOD OF RAPID GROWTH

later own two businesses, and Hafer, also a Management major, who went on to work in the hospitality industry and later became an industrial buyer and then a buyer in retail for 30 years, worked part-time jobs to help pay for their tuition.

Emig worked at the York Sunday News as a newspaper carrier and then later became a manager. Both Emig and Hafer would sometimes leave after class to go straight to work. Other days, they spent their time getting involved on campus and getting to know fellow students. Emig participated in the band as the drummer and Hafer spent much of his spare time in athletics.

“The addition of 130

During its transition to a four-year resident women this year institution, the campus grew to nine buildings including York Hall (today has contributed greatly known as Campbell Hall), a Student to the maturity of student Center, a Library (which used to be housed in York Hall), Wolf Gym (located where resident life.” the Waldner Performing Arts Center now stands), and a new Administration They discussed politics, civil rights, building. Administrators knew they needed the role of women in society, the Vietnam to restructure in order to accommodate an War, and protests. As Hafer recalls, there A Freshman Week tradition was a tugever-growing student population. Lepson weren’t any protests or gatherings on of-war held over Tyler explained that faculty members played an campus, but “of course there were plenty Run creek. It looks as instrumental role in developing the College of protests in the news at the time as the though the freshman team has defeated into the four-year institution it is today.

Vietnam War was on everyone’s mind. We the sophomore team!

He said the faculty “were just starting did talk among ourselves about the war, things like internships to get people into this school.” but I don’t remember it ever being discussed in class.”

Although the majority of students like Emig, Sleeger, Emig said, “Everyone had friends or relatives who were and Hafer were commuters, four dormitories attracted called [for the draft].” Local protests erupted over the more than 500 resident students. More women were war and the civil rights movement. “It was an unsettling attending the school than in previous years and, as the time in York,” Emig remembers. It was also a period College’s 1967-1968 yearbook stated, “The addition of of momentous scientific change as people around the 130 resident women this year has contributed greatly world watched and held their breath as Apollo 8 became to the maturity of student resident life.” Sleeger fondly the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth’s orbit. remembers that she spent much of her time on campus CL ASSES AND PROFESSORS with her sorority, Lambda Sigma Chi. She says, “being a commuter, I felt less ties with the College in those early years, so I joined a sorority. It was a great group of girls who did a lot of activities to serve the community.”

LIFE IN GENERAL Tuition was $375 for 15 credits and an additional $25 per credit beyond 15 in 1968. Both Emig, a Management major, who went on to work in the manufacturing industry and

There were approximately 55 full-time faculty teaching about 1,300 full-time students in 1968. Some of the 233 classes offered to students with majors in Business Administration, Engineering and Science, Liberal Arts, and Continuing Adult Education included typewriting and secretarial orientation, folk and square dance, vertebrate physiology, and introduction to the Old Testament.

Sleeger, a Medical Technology major, still remembers Miss YO R K C O L L E G E M A G A Z I N E • 2 0 18 V O L . 2

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50 Y E A RS AGO

Trevethan, an English professor who “always told us to use ‘gutsy verbs’ in anything we wrote!” Popular classes included advertising, taught by Professor Yoas, and other business classes conducted by Professor Lisk, a “full-bird colonel retired from the Army who told some interesting stories,” Emig recalled. Some of the most popular majors were Business Management, Engineering, and Education.

DRESS CODE AND TR ADITIONS First-years had to wear a York College bucket-hat and large name tag on campus or at college functions.

When in class or speaking with a female faculty member or female classmate, men had to remove their hat as a sign of respect. At the College picnic, if the freshman team lost the tug-of-war against the sophomore team, Freshman Week would continue for an additional week.

“There was a student boycott of classes for one day to protest the dress code, but no changes were made while I was still a student.”

Emig reminisced that male students had to wear a coat and tie and if an upperclassman caught them breaking this rule, they could be forced to sing the College’s fight song. “The dress code for women was dresses and skirts and for men it was collared shirts and slacks, no T-shirts or jeans.” Hafer recalls a student walkout to protest the dress code. He says, “There was a student boycott of classes for one day to protest the dress code, but no changes were made while I was still a student.” In spite of the strict dress code and quirky orientation traditions, alumni looked back on these experiences with humor.

Spring Formal was one of the big annual highlights. Sleeger remembers being the talk of the campus one year. “When my date came to pick me up, my dad handed him the keys to his nine-passenger business limo.

He was on cloud nine!” She said couples piled in for a ride to the east end of town to 26

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Dean Emig ’68 with his yearbook photo.

YORK COLLEGE 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WEEK OCTOBER 1–7, 2018 Visit ycp.edu/50thAnniversary for more information and updates to the schedule of events.

OCTOBER 1: MONDAY CAMPUS COMMUNITY KICKOFF Plans call for a celebratory kickoff of the week by President GunterSmith and other notables. Campus community members will participate in activities including spelling out “50” on the campus lawn; participants will receive a commemorative T-shirt.

OCTOBER 2: TUESDAY SERVIRE EST VIVERE To honor our motto and veterans, we will host a kickoff of the annual collection campaign for Mr. Sandy’s Homeless Veterans Center. Items sought include grocery store gift cards, clothing and blankets. A grand opening will be held to celebrate the new Veterans Lounge on campus, and the day will close with a talk by York College’s own Maj. Gen. Kurt Ryan ’87.

OCTOBER 3: WEDNESDAY YORK JUNIOR COLLEGE AND YORK COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE REUNION A special luncheon and reunion for those who graduated from York College’s predecessor institutions will be held in York College’s downtown facilities.

OCTOBER 4: THURSDAY HONORING LEADERSHIP DONORS The annual recognition for York College’s Heritage Society will feature a 50th anniversary theme.

OCTOBER 5: FRIDAY FIRST FRIDAY DOWNTOWN CELEBRATION The day will begin with the Spartan Advance Golf Outing, and then we will take the party downtown to participate in First Friday.

You will find us on Continental Square sharing birthday cake with the York community.

OCTOBER 6: SATURDAY THE MAIN EVENT FOR ALUMNI AND PARENTS We will build on the popular events of Fall Fest to put a 50th anniversary spin on this day that welcomes family, friends, and York College alumni to campus. The annual 5K and Fun Run are scheduled for the morning, followed by athletic events and a tailgater at Avillo Plaza. Fall Fest activities for students and families, including entertainment and student organizations sharing information, will be held later in the day. Plans for the afternoon and evening include the Prism Concert, SpartaFest on West Campus, and a 50th anniversary concert presented by the Division of Music. The day will wrap up with a big bang!

OCTOBER 7: SUNDAY RELIGIOUS CELEBRATIONS York College’s Gordon Center for Jewish Life will celebrate its grand opening. All are welcome!

► YCP.EDU/50THANNIVERSARY

Barb Sleeger ’71 today with her student photo.

“I feel blessed with the education that was provided to me by the College; it gave me the opportunity for a wonderful career at WellSpan York Hospital lasting 47 years.”

Gino’s, a popular drive-in, to get 15 cent hamburgers.

Before becoming the Spartans, students were known as the “Flying Dutchmen.” A favorite hang-out spot on campus, the Dutchman’s Pub, was the place to be to grab a bite to eat, meet with friends, and unwind after class. Emig, Hafer, and Sleeger spent much of their time between classes in the pub, and it was one of their favorite locations on campus.

ACTIVITIES The College had a strong participation in athletics with eight intercollegiate teams including baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, track and field, and wrestling.

Hafer spent much of his time on the athletic fields and in the gym playing intramural sports. “I was one of the three students who set a world record for treading water in the College pool,” he says.

In addition to athletics, students also enjoyed guest lectures, music, and concerts.

Bruce Springsteen played before a crowd of about 2,000 students with the band Crazy Horse in the College’s Student Center in 1972.

WORLD EVENTS On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated shortly after becoming the democratic candidate for the presidential election. Earlier that year on April 4, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, sparking violent protests and riots. York City was no different. Hafer recalls, “The biggest thing that happened around York while I was a student were the race riots that resulted in some deaths and a city curfew that affected some of my fellow students.” Emig said there were some bomb threats but these were not very serious. Peter Levy, Ph.D., Professor of History and author of The Great Uprising: Race Riots in Urban America during the 1960s, extensively researched this era and the outcome of the civil rights movement in American history. When YO R K C O L L E G E M A G A Z I N E • 2 0 18 V O L . 2

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An unnamed female student wears a bucket-hat and name tag as part of Freshman Week.

ABOVE: Typewriting

class circa 1968.

TOP: The York

College campus in the late 60s.

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discussing his book in a CSPAN feature show earlier this year, he mentioned there were revolts specifically in 1968: “York too had also experienced a very significant revolt, but one that almost no one talked about.”

Hafer recalls the looming threat of being drafted for the war in Vietnam. “I remember the day after the first lottery drawing for the draft. Kids with very low draft numbers knew they were most likely to go to war,” he said. His number was 210 so he was sure his number was high enough to make him safe. Emig remembers “in 1966, all males 18 and older had to register for the draft. If you entered college you got a deferment.

I never got called for a physical and when the lottery was held in the spring of 1970, I won my only lottery.

I was number 356 out of 365. After graduation, I was reclassified as 1A [available for military service] but was never called. They did not get up to my number.”

As Sleeger, Emig, Hafer, and Lepson remembered the tumultuous events and shared memories from five decades ago, they also reflected fondly on their time spent at York. Emig credits York with preparing him for his career: “YJC helped give me confidence to continue my education at a four-year institution. It also laid the groundwork for my time spent in the manufacturing industry.”

After retiring, Hafer returned to York College and works part-time in the campus bookstore.

Sleeger says, “I feel blessed with the education that was provided to me by the College; it gave me the opportunity for a wonderful career at WellSpan York Hospital lasting 47 years.” She has also served on the Alumni Board of Directors for the past nine years. She notes, “Today, the College offers so much more than 50 years ago. Today’s students have many wonderful opportunities with activities and events to give them a well-rounded education. Being prepared for the next step in their lives is so important and York College certainly offers the students of today many advantages.”

YO R K C O L L E G E O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A

LIFE IN 1968 Cost of gas: 32 to 34 cents per gallon Cost of movie ticket: $1.31 Academy Awards, Best Picture: In The Heat Of The Night Top Song and Artist: Hey Jude, The Beatles Best-Selling Book: Airport, by Arthur Hailey President of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson Superbowl II Champions: Green Bay Packers April 3: Hair opens on Broadway and runs for more than 1,700 performances July 20: First Special Olympics opens at Chicago’s Soldier Field September 24: 60 Minutes debuts on CBS September 30: Boeing introduces the first 747 Jumbo Jet November 22: Star Trek airs American television’s first interracial kiss December 24: Apollo 8 is the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon

YORK COLLEGE TIMELINE 1787 – York County Academy (YCA) founded 1873 – York Collegiate Institute (YCI) founded 1941 – York Junior College (YJC) founded, 42 students 1961 – YJC moved to present location 1968 – York College of Pennsylvania (YCP) founded, nearly 2,000 students 2018 – Today, around 4,000 full-time undergraduate students

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CONNECTIONS

SHARE YOUR UPDATE AND SUBMIT A CLASS NOTE Throughout the year, York College graduates share milestones and successes from around the world.

From wedding, engagement, and birth announcements to job promotions, creative projects, travel, and fun, Class Notes show what’s happening in the professional and personal lives of alumni.

Class Notes will be published three times per year in an electronic format. Submissions are subject to edits and space restrictions. To view Class Notes or to submit your news, please visit www.ycp.edu/alumni. Any questions? Email alumni@ycp.edu.

GOOD SAMARITAN The surprise meeting of alumnus, Mike Drisgill ’14, and Bruce Becke, the man whose life he saved, went viral in a Facebook video over Easter weekend 2018.

When York College hosted a bone marrow drive, Drisgill was the first in line. Since he was one of only two identical matches in the country, his donation saved the life of recipient, Becke, a resident of New Buffalo, Michigan. In celebration of Becke’s two-year anniversary or “birthday” as his family called it, the two families worked together to set up a meeting for the two men.

Unknown to Becke, Drisgill was seated at the table next to him when Becke and his family were celebrating his two-year anniversary at a restaurant. Drisgill’s family engaged Becke in conversation asking him how he was just two years old. When he explained the reason, Becke mentioned Drisgill and said, “He’s the only reason I’m here today.” An excited family member exclaimed, “His name is Mike Drisgill!” about the man at the next table and the two finally met in person. After revealing his identity, Drisgill warmly embraced an emotional and tearful Becke who thanked him for the gift of life. — C.K.

FORREST YINGLING ’04 Forrest Yingling ’04, found inspiration for the On My Grind Coffee truck at Artscape in Baltimore a few years ago. His first experience buying coffee from a truck “planted the seed” for what turned into an original food truck business that transforms the way people experience coffee. His coffee shop can be seen rolling around to various events and locations throughout South Central Pennsylvania.

Before establishing On My Grind Coffee, Yingling fought a battle that made owning a business seem impossible. He developed an addiction to drugs while attending college and tried everything from painkillers, cocaine, and psychedelics to heroin.

While at first he remained fully functional, the negative effects of drug abuse eventually caught up to him.

On experiencing this gradual decline, Yingling said, “During that time I created a lot of wreckage in my life.

When I finally decided to surrender and get clean, I had burnt just about every bridge. I was emotionally, mentally, and financially bankrupt.”

Yingling’s battle with drug use took a turn for the better when his daughter was born in 2011. He claims

that she was a “major driving factor” in pursuing treatment and getting clean. When she was one year old, he entered a local rehabilitation facility and successfully completed treatment.

Through this rehabilitation process, Yingling “finally surrendered” and realized he could not solve all his problems on his own. His counselors at the facility had each accomplished over a decade of sobriety; if they could accomplish that, then Yingling knew he should listen to their advice.

Now Yingling uses On My Grind Coffee not only as a driving factor in his own recovery process, but also as a means to help other recovering addicts.

While he brings his truck to recoveryoriented events whenever possible, he also donates a portion of his profits to organizations, including Rising Above Addiction, Life’s Beacon Foundation, Not One More, and Hope for Today. On wanting to help other addicts he said, “I know what it’s like to use when you don’t want to. I know what it’s like to use just to not be sick and not even get high anymore. It’s a miserable existence.

So, if an addict like me can get clean and stay clean, then anyone can.”

Through his business, Yingling aims to spread the hope he knows people desperately need. — R.H.

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CRISTAL PEREZRODRIGUEZ ’16

“York College really built me up to become a professional,” said Cristal Perez-Rodriguez ’16. Though confident and skilled in her field, Perez-Rodriguez wasn’t exactly sure what her postgraduation life would be like until a connection established through a campus Evening of Networking event proved to be fruitful. Impressed by her resume and communication skills, Aspire Ventures, a venture capital company, said they were interested in hiring her.

She went on to work with their Human Resources Department and to serve as the company’s Internship Coordinator.

Through this position, she was able to hire Catherine Roque ’18 (York, PA) as an intern from her alma mater.

Perez-Rodriguez extols the education she received while attending the College and feels that even though her major was Psychology, her education has greatly enhanced her performance in the world of marketing. “York prepared me for my career in many ways. All of the papers I did, projects, research, I apply to my work. I do research to make the workplace better,” she said. She also praises the work of her adjunct professors for their roles in developing her level of preparedness. “I have taken classes with adjunct professors that have not only real-world experience, but also academic experience. I’m constantly going back to their PowerPoints and their notes. I’m constantly remembering the things they’ve said.”

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“I cannot stress enough how prepared I felt working on my master’s degree.”

In 2018, Perez-Rodriguez accepted the position of Human Resources Manager at Connexion Health, the latest company from Aspire Ventures, which focuses on disrupting healthcare and changing the way we manage, understand, and improve our health. Also, in April 2018, Perez-Rodriguez completed her Master of Science in Organizational Development at Abilene Christian University. She referred back to some of the textbooks she used as an undergraduate at York College and stated, “I cannot stress enough how prepared I felt working on my master’s degree.”

Outside of her career, Perez-Rodriguez enjoys volunteer work in Lancaster and York. She serves on the Board for the College’s YCCOSP program and volunteers with Junior Achievement and helps students at local colleges, including York College. — T.F. & R. H.

me to involve myself in the Alumni Association and has enabled me to give back to my alma mater. Wish me luck as I am running for the Alumni Board!”

[Editor’s Note: We are delighted to announce that as we go to press, Rodney Altemose has been elected to a three-year term on the Alumni Board of Directors.]

Both Alison and Rodney Altemose have celebrated the tradition of service by speaking at Legacy Day — a time when legacy families come together and celebrate the joy of sharing the York College experience across generations.

Rodney Altemose lives in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, just an hour away from where he grew up in Nazareth. His nearly 30 years of working in higher education leadership and student affairs positions all began with a desire to be involved and the motivation to take action. — D.S.

“Having Alison at YCP RODNEY ALTEMOSE ’92 has re-energized me The Student Senate is a valuable to involve myself in the resource for the student body, and like many student-run organizations, it is Alumni Association and a vehicle for learning leadership and has enabled me to give collaboration skills. Rodney Altemose ’92 not only served as the Student Senate back to my alma mater.”

President during his college career, but he was also involved with Greek Life and Residence Life. Altemose felt a strong connection to the notion of a role that focused on strengthening the bond between a college and the community in order to achieve a state of well-being as a whole. He pursued a Master’s Degree in Higher Education Counseling from Shippensburg University and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Wilmington University. Currently, Altemose is the Executive Director of the Upper Bucks Campus for the Bucks County Community College.

Now, 28 years later, his daughter, Alison Altemose ’21 (Warrington, PA), is sharing that same tradition in her current role as the Secretary of Student Senate for the 2018-2019 academic year. Her father said, “The skills and experiences acquired by being involved in a leadership position on Student Senate are extremely valuable.” He added, “Having Alison at YCP has re-energized

A LU M NI SP OT L IGH T

ATTORNEY KRISTIE MACIOLECK SMALL ’96 Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Talent Management, PPL Services Corporation Attorney Kristie Macioleck Small ’96 is an expert lane-changer. After nearly two decades as a litigator, in 2015, she switched to employment law with PPL, where she has worked for the past five years.

Last April, when PPL was looking for its first Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Talent Management, the Fortune 500 company knew just the shoulder to tap. “York College’s broad curriculum made me unafraid to try things that are new and different,” says Small, who graduated with a degree in Accounting.

“At PPL, I was exposed to a lot of human resources issues and really developed a passion for diversity and inclusion.”

“York College’s broad curriculum made me unafraid to try things that are new and different.”

Passion is putting it mildly. She’s a founding member of PPL’s REACH Business Resource Group for differently abled people. In 2015, she was Fellow with The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Her interest isn’t just professional. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2002, Small led PPL’s sponsorship of the 2018 Walk MS Allentown. “This past year, I have talked [about my MS] at work more than I ever have before,” she says. “The more you talk, the more you educate.” Advocacy is a family mission: husband Kevin suffered a traumatic brain injury in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“These experiences really exposed me to the diversity issues faced by companies today,” explains the mother of two boys. “It’s imperative to have a Photo courtesy of PPL Corporation

diverse workforce. PPL recognizes that this will be our business advantage.”

“My overarching focus is to recruit, retain, and promote the most diverse workforce possible,” she says. “My true clients are current and future employees. Advancing diversity and inclusion requires a clear mission and sustained action.”

A member of the YCP Alumni Board of Directors since 2012, Small’s favorite alumni activity (other than the College’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt) is serving on the Scholarships, Awards, and Board Membership Committee, which awarded $53,750 in scholarships last year: “Today’s students are globally minded and concerned about diversity issues.

They’re a better version of my generation.”

Small graduated magna cum laude in three and a half years and briefly worked as an assistant controller before enrolling in The Catholic University of America, Columbia School of Law. Her undergraduate degree, though, remains her career thread. “The best training I have is my business background,” she says. “I can understand the ‘why’ and ‘how’ a business transaction is set up. I can identify both the opportunities and the associated risks.”

In her new role, her focus is also on the philosophical: “You want everyone to feel they have a path to success. We all desire to succeed at work.”

— Sarah Achenbach

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IN M EM O RIA M

RACHEL PIAZZA ’05

A TRIBUTE TO ROBERT A. REICHLEY ’48

With a B.A. in Political Science from York College and an M.S. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Towson University, Rachel Piazza ’05 fights to combat the epidemic of violence against women.

Piazza’s passion for gender studies and politics stems from her first gender studies course at York College, which opened her eyes to a new perspective.

At first an undeclared major, Piazza grew interested in politics after the 2000 presidential election. In order to combat gender inequality, Piazza explained we need to “change the way we speak” to help make a difference.

In order to combat gender inequality, we need to “change the way we speak” to help make a difference.

As an avid practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for 10 years, Piazza reduces violence against women by teaching self-defense workshops in hopes of making women feel more self-confident and powerful through a “feel-good environment.” Some of her upcoming projects are aimed toward women who are particularly vulnerable to violence. Piazza said, “I hope that my

York native Robert A. Reichley ’48 passed away on May 15, 2018, in Providence, RI, aged 91. He had a long and distinguished career in higher education and was co-founder, trustee, and later Chairman of the Board of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Higher Education (CASE).

Robert and his wife, Sara ’48, graduated from York Junior College.

He received a B.A. in English from Ursinus College and went on to work as sports editor of the York Dispatch. He then joined Culver Military Academy as its magazine editor. In 1968, he became Brown University’s alumni magazine editor. Under his leadership, the publication won the Robert Sibley Award for the best university magazine in the country. In a few years, he was asked to create the first University Relations Department at Brown. In 1990, he was promoted to Executive Vice President for Alumni, Public Affairs, and External Relations.

After serving 30 years, Reichley

workshops empower women — both physically and mentally — to reject all the ways that we, as women, are diminished — especially when it comes to the continuum of violence.”

Piazza can also be found writing about gender and violence for ESPN. She advises those hoping to make a difference in the community to familiarize themselves with the history of oppression and privilege in order to understand the challenges they hope to overcome. Piazza is currently

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retired as Executive Vice President and Secretary of the University.

Reichley was heavily involved in higher education and received numerous awards and honors including the Father Theodore Hesburgh Medal, given to a CASE trustee who most exemplifies the educational dedication and leadership of the former Notre Dame president. According to Reichley’s family, he was delighted to receive the York College Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1984, as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from York in 1996. Ursinus and Brown also awarded him honorary doctorates.

Reichley’s family say he was delighted to receive the York College Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1984.

Robert and Sara were longstanding supporters of the arts. The Sara and Robert A. Reichley Concert Fund was established in 1997 at Brown and brought internationally known musicians to play with the Brown Orchestra. Reichley was active in the Providence, Rhode Island community.

He is survived by his wife, Sara, his four children, Nancy Reichley, David Reichley, Rob Reichley, John Reichley, and six grandchildren.

teaching in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at New Jersey City University. She supports the #MeToo feminist movement by bringing the discussion into the classroom. In doing so, Piazza hopes to “inform a generation of students who will be aware of the abuses of power that women and other marginalized groups have been up against.” Through teaching college and self-defense courses, Piazza tries to instill “feelings of self-worth and empowerment” in women. — M.S. & R.H.

A G L IM PSE O F O U R PAST

SOUNDTRACKS Student musical interest groups, including concert and stage bands, jazz, guitar, and wind ensembles, have always been a component of campus life. Vocal groups have been part of our history since we became a college in 1941.

In the 40s, there was “The Quartet” and “The Glee Club.” During the 60s, 70s and 80s, there was the “Concert Choir” and the “Gospel Club.” In the early 90s, students created the “Madrigal Singers,” troubadours of Renaissance motets. Early in the 21st century, singers formed “Rhapsody,” and a decade later, “Enharmonix,” both a cappella groups.

The voices of students on campus have always played an integral part in everything from Greek organizations to government. And in that mix are musical interest groups; it could be said that over the last 77 years, students have provided the soundtrack to the College’s history. ­— Karen Rice-Young ’92

York College’s Archives, part of the Special Collections Room in Schmidt Library, serves as the institution’s “memory,” preserving artifacts, documents, and photographs for today’s college community and those of the future.

The Archives welcomes donations of college-related memorabilia.

Contact Karen Rice-Young ’92, Archives and Special Collections Manager, kriceyou@ycp.edu, 717-815-1439 for more information. ► YCP.EDU/50THANNIVERSARY

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Fall Fest & Homecoming Weekend October 5–7, 2018

CALLING ALL SPARTANS AND YOUR FAMILIES! COME HOME and enjoy food, fun, and activities! This popular annual College celebration brings together alumni, faculty, students, family, and friends.

• Enjoy York College’s 50th anniversary at First Friday in Downtown York • Participate in the Spartan Advance Golf Outing and 5K & Fun Run • Celebrate with students at their Fall Festival on Main Campus • Cheer on Spartan athletes as they compete in games and matches • Savor food, friends, and live entertainment at the Alumni SpartaFest event • Attend a Class or Affinity Reunion Go to ycp.edu/fallfest to learn more about this fun weekend.